An Interesting "SOP"..............and a view from the other side!
I promised I would give you an example of where one "Standard Operating Procedure" interferes with another - here goes!
The "SOP" in question was brilliantly planned. Yesterday morning, the announcement was made at about 0730 that the Newcastle and Glasgow flights (both due to depart around 10.30) would be cancelled. Any passengers would be referred to check-in "Zone G" from where they would be escorted down to arrivals where the Disruption Desks opposite Krispy Kreme would be opened up to handle them.
Staff were sent to the Distruption Desks and briefed as to their duties. The passengers, we were told, were to be given a hand-written boarding card, £10.00 refreshment voucher per person to buy food/drink for the long road journey from Marks & Spencers, and then referred to the queue by the Staff Search area to be escorted into the Baggage Hall to reclaim their hold baggage. Once done, they would be brought back outside where the first coach would be waiting at about 10.00.
So far, so good.............
I went up in the lift to Zone G! In the words of Batman, "Holy Cr4p!" - there were snaky queues and Tensa Barriers everywhere while another "SOP" for handline re-bookings was under way.
So, the only way to find my passengers was to proceed up and down the queue bellowing in a very undignified and unprofessionmal way "Anyone for Newcastle or Glasgow, please!"
I sifted the first few and took them downstairs, then the next problem reared its head. The DfT and BAA are, understandably, rather touchy about allowing passengers to return to the Baggage Reclaim Hall. In this case, with about 250 passengers (and the usual tossers who say they "forgot" to collect their baggage), the BAA refused point blank to allow our NCL/GLA passengers to be escorted back in. (I suspect they have a SOP for that!)
Eventually, the BAA relented and allowed pax to be taken in to reclaim baggage 6 at a time. With the security scanning etc, that took a tremendous amount of time and it was soon plain that with the first two coaches sitting outside revving their engines at 10.00, that the first passengers wouldn't be ready until about 10.30.
The airport won't let coaches sit outside on the stands for long, so the two coaches were told to go to the Coach Holding Area out on the Northern Perimeter Road until they were called back in. (That's the Traffic Warden's "SOP" I shouldn't wonder!)
So, eventually, we got the first coaches ready at about 11.00, swe then have to satisfy DfT requirements by writing a list of all the passengers on the coach, with the coach registration number and fill an envelope with the tear-oo bits of the handwritten passengers' boarding passes. When I was asked what was taking the time and I answered "Administration and Paperwork", I though I was going to be killed!
The last coach departed at 12.25 - nearly two hours after our original plan! I have to say, the "SOP" was extremely well designed and would have worked extremely well, if it had been the only SOP being followed! As it was, we did a brilliant job and worked tirelessly throughout - but I am sorry to say none of the passengers involved with us would have thought so!